PSYC 3140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 59: Panpsychism, Absolute Threshold, Empiricism
9 May 2018
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PSYC 3140
Lecture 59
a. Panpsychism –
i. all things physical are also conscious. Fechner believed that the
consciousness cannot be separated from physical things.
b. Fechner researched on the absolute and difference thresholds.
i. Absolute Threshold : Lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be
detected
1. Negative sensations - According to Fechner, sensations that
occur below the absolute threshold and are therefore below
the level of awareness. Pg 255.
ii. Differential threshold: The stimulus magnitude that needs to be
changed before a person detects difference.
1. **Fechner found that for the magnitude of a sensation to rise
arithmetically, the magnitude of stimulation must rise
geometrically. (extension of Weber’s Law)
c. Psychophysical Methods of exploring the mind-body relationship.
i. Developed various methods of research including the:
ii. method of limits (method of just noticeable differences).
1. A stimulus is presented at varying intensities along with a
standard (constant) stimulus to determine the range of
intensities judged to be the same as the standard.
iii. method of constant stimuli (method of right and wrong cases.
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